MSDN Library
Encyclopedia
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers
developing for Microsoft Windows
. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network
. The MSDN Library documents the APIs
that ship with Microsoft
products and also includes sample code, technical articles, and other programming information. It is available free on the web and on CDs
and DVD
s for paid MSDN subscribers. Initially, the disc version was only available as part of an MSDN subscription and was released on a quarterly basis (January, April, July and October). However, in recent times (2006 and later), it can be freely downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center in the form of ISO image
s
and the CD/DVD releases are no longer published quarterly. Instead, its release schedule is now aligned with major software releases (major Visual Studio release, major Windows
release or service packs), (up to Visual Studio 2008).
Since May 2006, Microsoft has also started producing a community CD version of the MSDN Library freely available for download as ISO image
s on its Download Center which contains only updated content. The community distribution of the MSDN Library is aimed at developers in countries where broadband internet connections are not readily available.
Visual Studio Express editions integrate only with the MSDN Express Library which is a subset of the full MSDN Library, although either MSDN edition can be freely downloaded and installed standalone.
In Visual Studio 2010 MSDN Library is replaced with the new Help System which is installed as a part of the Visual Studio 2010 installation. Help Library Manager application is used to install Help Content books covering selected topics.
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
developing for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
. The MSDN Library documents the APIs
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
that ship with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
products and also includes sample code, technical articles, and other programming information. It is available free on the web and on CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s for paid MSDN subscribers. Initially, the disc version was only available as part of an MSDN subscription and was released on a quarterly basis (January, April, July and October). However, in recent times (2006 and later), it can be freely downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center in the form of ISO image
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
s
and the CD/DVD releases are no longer published quarterly. Instead, its release schedule is now aligned with major software releases (major Visual Studio release, major Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
release or service packs), (up to Visual Studio 2008).
Since May 2006, Microsoft has also started producing a community CD version of the MSDN Library freely available for download as ISO image
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
s on its Download Center which contains only updated content. The community distribution of the MSDN Library is aimed at developers in countries where broadband internet connections are not readily available.
Visual Studio Express editions integrate only with the MSDN Express Library which is a subset of the full MSDN Library, although either MSDN edition can be freely downloaded and installed standalone.
In Visual Studio 2010 MSDN Library is replaced with the new Help System which is installed as a part of the Visual Studio 2010 installation. Help Library Manager application is used to install Help Content books covering selected topics.
Integration with Visual Studio
Each edition of MSDN Library can only be accessed with one help viewer (Microsoft Document Explorer or other help viewer), which is integrated with the then current single version or sometimes two versions of Visual Studio. In addition, each new version of Visual Studio does not integrate with an earlier version of MSDN. A compatible MSDN Library is released with each new version of Visual Studio and included on the Visual Studio DVD. As newer versions of Visual Studio are released, newer editions of the MSDN Library do not integrate with older Visual Studio versions and do not even include old/obsolete documentation for deprecated or discontinued products. MSDN Library versions can be installed side-by-side, that is, both the older as well as the newer version of the MSDN Library can co-exist.Versions
- The October 2001 MSDN Library was the last version to include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio 6.0.
- The January 2003 MSDN Library was the last version to include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio .NET (2002).
- The January 2006 MSDN Library was the last version to include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio .NET 2003.
- The April 2007 MSDN Library was the last version to include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio 2005 (Service Pack 1).
- The January 2008 version and later include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio 2008.
- The October 2008 version and later include documentation for and integrate with Visual Studio 2008 SP1.
External links
- Official MSDN Library website
- Visual Studio 2010 Help Downloader - tool for downloading base Visual Studio 2010 MSDN package for offline first installation